The European Union is unique amongst international organisations in that it has a highly developed and coherent system of judicial protection. The rights derived from Union law can be enforced in court, as opposed to other international organisations whereby enforceability is often far less certain. At the heart of the system of judicial protection in the European Union is the core principle of upholding the rule of law. As such, the stakes are high in the sense that the system of the judicial protection in the European Union must live up to its promise in which individuals, Member States and Union institutions are all guaranteed a route by which to enforce Union law rights. This book provides a rigorously structured analysis of the EU system of judicial protection and procedure before the Union courts. It examines the role and the competences of the Union courts and the types of actions that may be brought before them, such as the actions for infringement, annulment, and failure to act, as well as special forms of procedure, for example interim relief, appeals, and staff cases. In doing so, special attention is given to the fields of EU competition law and State aid. In addition it evaluates the relationship between the Court of Justice and the national courts through the preliminary ruling procedure and the interplay between EU law and the national procedural frameworks generally. Throughout, it takes account of significant institutional developments, including the relevant changes brought by the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty and the amendments to the Statute of the Court of Justice of the European Union and the Rules of Procedure of the Court of Justice and the General Court.

Situated within the context of the ongoing debate about European contract law, this book provides a detailed examination of the European Union's competence in the field of contract law. It analyses the limits of Union competence in relation to several relevant Treaty provisions which potentially confer competence on the Union to adopt a comprehensive contract law instrument and the exercise of Union competence in connection with the operation of the principles of subsidiarity, proportionality and sincere cooperation. It also explores the viability of several alternative and complementary routes to the adoption of such an instrument, including enhanced cooperation, an intergovernmental treaty and certain American techniques. Setting forth an elaborate account of the context for this debate and its chronological development at the European level, this book charts the discussions relating to the European Union's competence to regulate contract law and offers a comparative analysis of the approach taken to the approximation of contract law in the American setting. Setting forth a detailed account of the context for this debate and its chronological development at the European level, the book charts the discussions that have occurred within and outside the EU relating to the transnational competence to regulate contract law. Situating European constitutional law within the continued debate about European contract law, it also reflects upon the contract law structure of the United States and examines the viability of alternative and complementary routes to the adoption of a comprehensive instrument of substantive contract law.